


Broken Jaw

by poetsandzombies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Healing, Kissing, M/M, Marauders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 05:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18218567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetsandzombies/pseuds/poetsandzombies
Summary: After the events of Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius and Remus catch up.





	Broken Jaw

**Author's Note:**

> Slight canon divergence: Sirius goes straight to 12 Grimmauld place after the events of Hogwarts before going into hiding, and Remus finds him there if you can find it in your heart for that to make sense for this story to work <3
> 
> (Title taken from Foster the People's album "Torches")

After the shrieking shack, after his capture and his escape, it isn’t long before Remus finds Sirius in the harrowing old house of 12 Grimmauld Place. They don’t say anything for a long time, but familiarize themselves with each other’s presence, a lost comfort that begins to mend an ache of loneliness in Sirius’ gut. 

There’s so much he doesn’t know about Remus; too much time has passed, time in which Remus has surely been building his life while Sirius’ was shriveling. He wonders longingly who the man is now. What he goes home to. He always said he’d never… but that was fourteen years ago.

Even so, there seems to be an unspoken understanding, even after all this time, that Remus isn’t leaving his side.

When Sirius finally manages to speak, it’s with the events of the previous night flashing through his mind.

“James’ kid is...” he starts, but trails off.  

“I know,” Remus says softly, voice a mixture of amazement and misery.

“And he looks...”

“I know.”

Silence fills the space between them, looming in the place a third figure might otherwise stand.  

“How was it?” Sirius asks. He almost doesn’t, stomach lurching at the image of a world celebrating the end of dark times at the expense of James and Lily Potter.

 “It was like,” Remus says, slow and strained, “they were dancing on their graves.” He closes his eyes.

“Those days never really left me. Maybe now,” he continues, but doesn’t finish. Sirius knows what he means to say; maybe now that Sirius is here, they can begin to mourn. To heal. To move on.

Sirius reaches out a hand and squeezes Remus’ shoulder. It’s companionable at first, but as the moment stretches on, he lets it slip down the length of Remus’ arm and linger by his wrist. Remus laces his fingers through Sirius’ and leans into him, their heads bowing towards one another.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Sirius says, voice cracking obscenely as he fights back sobs, “not to him.”

Before he can fall apart, Remus closes the distance between them, kissing him with such force that Sirius staggers back. There is a moment of fumbling before he steadies himself with hands clasped tightly to Remus’ hips, pressing his body flat against his own and welcoming the rush of warmth and adrenaline that floods through his chest in response.

They kiss, and Remus wraps his arms around Sirius’ shoulders, blunt nails digging into his back as if to keep him here, as if Sirius would ever dream of leaving. They kiss, and Sirius’ hands explore the unfamiliar scars of Remus’ familiar body, needing to know every one. They kiss and they remember. They kiss and try to forget.

When they stop, it is with reluctance and dread and they _don’t_ let go. Sirius cups Remus’ face, brushing a thumb delicately along his cheek and the faint pink color that rises its place makes Sirius’ sallow, dying heart beat.

“I have to go,” Sirius says, kissing Remus again, stroking his face. “Tomorrow, I have to go.”

“I’m coming with you,” Remus responds without hesitation.

Sirius looks at him and knows they are both thinking the same thing—about the young, round-faced boy so far out of their reach.

“There is nothing else here for me.”


End file.
